Should I blow my bonus on business class tickets to Europe

[Anonymous]

No! You can be in regular seats for 7 hours for that kind of money. Or go economy plus but you can enjoy that in such a better way.

[Anonymous]

i fly business for work all the time and i love it but i would never spend that money on my kids (or myself atually). Seems like a waste of money for 7 hours in a plane. Yes the travel is painful but i also think kids can totally handle it (i would buy business for my 80 year old parents).

[Anonymous]

No. It’s only slightly better than coach.

-have flown business class to Europe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this is a first word problem, but that's what this forum is largely about, right? DH and I are taking the kids(6 and 5) to Europe in the fall. Business class tickets are $20k for the four of us! There is a small one-off bonus coming my way that will be about $15k after taxes. This bonus is unexpected and won't be something that will happen again soon. Would you splurge and spend it on the tickets or would you fly coach. The kids have been to Europe before once and we flew business, but it was half the price. At that time, I thought that business class was worth it because the kids had no jet lag whatsoever. WWYD?

No that’s stupid! Only time I upgrade is when I can use miles and it’s free. Had no idea people actually pay for this crap out of wage slave income. No thanks!

[Anonymous]

I would book business class for you and your spouse but put the kids in economy. They don't need the extra space.

[Anonymous]

I would upgrade hotel or private tours before I upgraded to business class.

[Anonymous]

We paid $18k for the first/business flights to Europe this summer. The premium lounge experience was a very nice plus. My teens and DH are very tall so it makes a big difference to them. Worth it? Hard to say. We also upgraded hotels, restaurants and had private tours, so it was all top tier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. It’s only slightly better than coach.

-have flown business class to Europe

That’s simply not true. It’s an entirely different, and in all ways better, experience as opposed to coach. After many years flying economy to Europe, we only fly business now, and it is always worth it. For example, at Heathrow recently, we breezed through security in two minutes when I heard economy passengers in the gate area complaining about their 3 hour wait. And that was before we were even on the plane! That being said, we almost always use miles earned with credit cards to book our business class seats, and probably would not blow the cash in your situation. How do you not have any miles OP?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would go premium economy.

+1

[Anonymous]

No.

[Anonymous]

I say go for it. You worked hard at your job, plus you had two small kids to entertain during 2 years of covid. Time to enjoy yourself, and for you, that means business class travel for a family vacation. Yolo!

[Anonymous]

Absolutely not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this is a first word problem, but that's what this forum is largely about, right? DH and I are taking the kids(6 and 5) to Europe in the fall. Business class tickets are $20k for the four of us! There is a small one-off bonus coming my way that will be about $15k after taxes. This bonus is unexpected and won't be something that will happen again soon. Would you splurge and spend it on the tickets or would you fly coach. The kids have been to Europe before once and we flew business, but it was half the price. At that time, I thought that business class was worth it because the kids had no jet lag whatsoever. WWYD?

I fly a 2-3 times per month and only in business class; I have only paid $5K+ for a ticket four times: IAD-PEK, IAD-SYD, IAD-SIN, and IAD-NRT. My family of four is flying to Europe twice in the next three months. First set of business class tickets cost 120,000 frequent flier miles and less than a hundred dollars in taxes each. Second set of business class tickets we purchased in coach for $1,100 each and then used United PlusPoints to immediately upgrade to confirmed business class round trip. Maybe you should get some frequent flyer status first, and then start aspiring to fly business class.

I love it when my kids are at the gate getting ready to pre-board and some entitled older couple pushes in front of them and says, “Excuse us dear, we need to get through. We’re actually flying first class.” Then my kids can only roll their eyes, as we’re all sitting in the same first class but we’re also United Global Services and legitimately entitled to pre-board. First class boards with Group 1 on United, not part of pre-boarding, of course.

[Anonymous]

def not plus say good bye to a good chunk in taxes. google "bonus tax"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also when/where are you flying that it's $5k/seat for business? Fall is shoulder season and prices aren't that high. I just booked business class to Tokyo for work for $3,800 the other day, for a trip in October.

Flights to Europe, even for this fall are still ridiculously priced, even in economy